The HIR Academic Writing Contest scores “use of evidence”, “analysis of evidence”, and “citations” as three separate lines on its 55-point rubric. Read that as an instruction: how you find, handle, and credit your sources is not a footnote to the argument – it is roughly a third of the score.
Evidence and analysis are not the same line
Weak essays stack up facts and hope the pile is persuasive. Strong essays do the opposite: they bring fewer sources and spend their words explaining what each one means for the argument. One example you analyze fully beats five you only mention. If a sentence states a fact and then moves on, it has earned points for evidence and forfeited them for analysis.
What counts as a credible source
Reach for primary data and named, reputable institutions: official statistics, established news organizations, peer-reviewed work, the public record. Avoid the unsourced blog post and the quote you cannot trace. A useful test before you cite anything: could you tell a judge who produced this, when, and why you trust it? If not, find a better source.
Cite cleanly – the points are just sitting there
Citations are their own rubric line, which makes clean referencing some of the easiest points in the contest. Choose the citation approach the contest asks for, apply it consistently, and check that every borrowed fact and quotation is credited. Consistency matters more than any single rule; a tidy, uniform set of references reads as care, and care is what the Style section rewards.
Facts are not an argument. What you do with them is.
The AP Style rules you will actually use
HIR essays follow AP Style, and a handful of rules cover most of what you write. Spell out numbers one through nine and use figures for 10 and up. Abbreviate months only with a specific date (Sept. 5), and spell them out when they stand alone. Skip the Oxford comma. Use the percent sign with figures (55%). For anything past these, keep the HIR Style Guide and an AP Stylebook within reach rather than guessing.
Never fabricate, never outsource it
Two lines are uncrossable. The contest bans AI-generated text, and a fabricated statistic or invented quotation is fatal even if judging never catches it – because you still have to face it on Defense Day. Every number you cite should be one you could find again and explain. Original work you can stand behind is the whole point of the exercise.
A two-minute evidence check before you submit
Read the essay once looking only at sources. Is every factual claim backed by something a reader could verify? Is every source followed by your own analysis, not just a citation? Are the references formatted the same way throughout? Three yeses, and you have collected points most entrants leave behind.
Ready to enter? →
Turn this into an actual entry — the next steps:
- How to enter the HIR contest — deadlines, word limits and the step-by-step submission
- The contest at a glance — divisions, format and the 55-point rubric in one place
- Read past winning entries — see what a scoring paper actually looks like